Attacker sentenced in series of walking-path assaults

SAN DIEGO – Two women told a judge Wednesday that they had once taken pleasure in long walks or hikes around San Diego County.

But their serenity was shattered in 2004 and 2005 respectively, when they – along with a third woman in 2006 – were attacked by a man who tried to sexually assault them.

After hearing from the victims, the judge sentenced Carlos Cerón Salazar, 30, to 21 years and four months in prison, noting the “randomness” and “viciousness” of the attacks.

Salazar, a Mexican citizen who had been deported from the United States several times, pleaded guilty Feb. 10 to four felony counts, including assault with intent to commit rape and rape by foreign object.

According to prosecutors, Escondido police arrested Salazar on Dec. 22 on charges of public intoxication. While in County Jail, officials discovered he was a suspect in several local sexual assault cases and had numerous immigration violations.

Salazar was accused in a 2006 attack on a woman jogging around midday at Miramar Lake. The woman told officers at the time that a strange man had grabbed her around the neck and forced her to the ground.

She fought back and bit his hand so deeply that when he yanked it away, she lost two teeth.

A DNA sample taken from Salazar matched DNA collected from the attack at Miramar Lake, authorities said. His DNA was also linked to an assault in September 2004 on a woman jogging near Community Road in Poway.

One of the two women who appeared in court Wednesday said she was attacked by a man later identified as Salazar in October 2005 near Lake Poway. She said he knocked her down and tried to rape her, but eventually responded to her pleas for him to stop.